In Write Vibrant Fiction, the difference between Anglo Saxon and Latinate based words was explained. How did it come about that the English language has two such different forms of words that mean the same thing?
A Short History of English Language: The Celts
The original inhabitants of Britain were the Celts. However, when the Saxons invaded Britain in 449 CE, they pushed the Celts out of England into Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Ireland. Very few Celtic words remain in English today.
The Anglo Saxons
The Saxons spoke a Germanic language, which evolved into Old English. Germanic languages, like Dutch and German tend to be straightforward, vivid and earthy. They call a spade a spade.
The Normans
However, six hundred years later, in 1066, the Normans invaded England. They spoke a French dialect, which had its roots in Latin. For the first time Latin began to influence the English language.
As the invaders, the Normans were more important socially. They continued speaking French to each other, while the Anglo Saxons, who were now the peasants, continued to speak English.
For centuries English and French existed side by side. Many aristocrats were trilingual, speaking English, French and Latin. The two languages gradually combined into Middle English.
The Renaissance
During the Renaissance, Latin became more important as it was used in professions like Law, Medicine and Science. Being able to speak and read Latin and Greek became a sign of education. More words entered general vocabulary as the professions developed.
Modern Times
Nowadays as more and more lay people acquire some knowledge of what was previously professional knowledge only, more Latinate words are flooding everyday English. Some examples would be ‘Depression, subconscious, concretisation, conscientise, menopause, hypochondriac, and psychosomatic.
Fiction Writers should Choose Anglo Saxon based words
George Orwell, in his essay ‘Politics and the English Language’ rewrites a passage from Ecclesiastes into language rich in Latin root words. He used the King James Version of the Bible, but here the original is taken from the New International Version.
I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
- This passage contains forty-six words, but only 52 syllables, and as Orwell points out, all the words are found in everyday language.
- It contains six vivid images that draw a picture in the reader’s head, and only one vague phrase – time and chance.
To show how good language can be mangled, Orwell rewrites this as:
Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.
- This version has thirty-eight words but they make up ninety syllables.
- Half of the words are taken from Latin or Greek roots.
- Not one of the phrases is clear, striking or evocative.
- Although it is longer, this example does not convey as much meaning as the first example does.
As Orwell says, ‘A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outline and covering up all the details.’
Many new writers, particularly if they are young, feel they need to impress the reader with their large vocabulary. However, as the example above shows, simpler is better.The aim of fiction writers is to create a scene in the reader's imagination. For this, Anglo Saxon based words work best.
